Munich Airport

Frankfurt is bigger, Munich is more convenient. At Lufthansa’s second hub, the spotting spot sits in the middle of the airport grounds, has its own S-Bahn station and looks out over two runways that handle everything the Lufthansa Group has to offer, from regional jets to the Airbus A380. Once you understand how the two runways and the runway direction in use work together, you get more out of half a day in the Erdinger Moos than at many other airports from a whole one.

An airport that moved overnight

Today’s airport is relatively young. Until May 1992, Munich’s air traffic landed in Riem on the east side of the city – squeezed between residential areas with no room to grow. That is why the decision to build a new airport in the Erdinger Moos, a flat, sparsely populated lowland northeast of the city, was made as early as the late 1960s. It was a long road to get there: lawsuits, a construction halt lasting several years and a reduction from the originally planned four runways to two.

The move itself is remarkable. In a single night, the entire operation was relocated from Riem to the Erdinger Moos; on May 17, 1992, the new airport took over the traffic. It is named after the former Bavarian minister-president Franz Josef Strauß – yet in everyday life, almost everyone simply says “MUC.”

Two runways, far apart

The layout is pleasantly clear for spotters. Both runways run parallel in an east-west direction, are each 4,000 meters long and lie about 2.3 kilometers apart. This large distance allows both runways to be operated independently of each other – often one is used for takeoffs while the other is used for landings. Between the runways lie the terminals, the aprons and, in the western part, the visitors’ park.

Which runway is used for what at any given moment is not set in stone. The distribution depends on traffic volume, the time of day and air traffic control requirements. So check a flight tracker live to see where aircraft are taking off and landing – how that works is explained in the article on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Runway direction in use: 26 or 08?

Aircraft take off and land into the wind. When it blows from the west, all movements run in direction 26 – aircraft land coming from the east and take off to the west. With an east wind, the picture flips, and runway direction 08 applies. For you, that means: depending on the weather, landings come from one side of the airport or the other, and approach shots at the runway end only work at the end the aircraft are currently flying toward.

The visitors’ hill takes this decision partly off your hands, because it lies between the runways and you see traffic from there in both runway directions. The question gets interesting once you want to go to the runway ends or to the fence. You will find the basics of judging runway direction and wind before you set off in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Lufthansa shapes the scene

Munich is Lufthansa’s second big hub – and for long-haul fans, in some respects the more interesting one. After reactivating its superjumbos, the airline based its remaining Airbus A380s here. There is also a large fleet of the Airbus A350-900, which has its most important base in Munich. On short- and medium-haul, A320 family types such as the A320neo dominate, complemented by regional jets from group companies such as Air Dolomiti – for example from the Embraer E190 family.

Organizationally, the hub is closely tied to the airline. Terminal 2 was built together with Lufthansa and is still operated by a joint company in which the airline holds 40 percent. In March 2026, the airport and Lufthansa Group agreed to continue their partnership until 2056 and to plan an extension of the satellite building to the east; according to Lufthansa, it is due to open in 2035.

Who else lands in Munich

Because Terminal 2 is reserved for Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance, there you see partners such as Swiss and Austrian Airlines alongside Lufthansa, as well as Star Alliance carriers from Asia and North America. At Terminal 1, all other airlines check in – including Condor, Eurowings since 2019, and Gulf carriers such as Emirates.

According to the airport, 96 airlines flew to Munich on a regular basis in 2025, including five dedicated cargo airlines. Long-haul grew significantly faster than European traffic. For you, that means: besides the Lufthansa fleet, widebody aircraft from other airlines keep turning up that you never get to see at smaller airports.

The visitors’ park: spotting with an S-Bahn connection

Hardly any major airport makes it as easy for visitors as Munich. The visitors’ park lies in the western part of the airport grounds between the two runways and, with the Besucherpark station, has its own stop on S-Bahn lines S1 and S8 – one stop before the terminal. According to the airport, the park is open year-round, around the clock, and free of charge; only the 28-meter-high visitors’ hill costs one euro admission, payable in cash.

From the hill, you look out over the western apron and onto both runways. For overview shots and taxiing aircraft, a medium telephoto is enough; for frame-filling takeoffs and landings, you need considerably more focal length. The park also includes a free exhibition about airport operations, a restaurant and a playground. The three historic aircraft – a Lockheed Super Constellation, a Douglas DC-3 and a Junkers Ju 52 – are currently closed for renovation, according to the airport.

What exactly you see from the hill, which focal length is worthwhile and how the light moves over the course of the day is covered in detail in the spot guide to the visitors’ hill at Munich Airport.

Quiet hours and the daily rhythm

Munich has a strict night flight regulation. Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., operations are heavily restricted; during the core period from midnight to 5 a.m., only flights in the public interest are allowed, such as rescue missions. In the shoulder hours, only certain particularly quiet aircraft and a limited quota of scheduled flights may take off and land.

For your planning, that means: the interesting waves come during the day, when the hub’s connecting flights converge. Exactly when the long-haul flights arrive and depart changes with every schedule – a look at the arrival and departure boards shows you the peaks of the day. Night shots with long exposures at the hill are possible, but after 10 p.m. they hardly yield any traffic.

Cargo, expansion and the third runway

West of the terminals, near the south runway, lies the cargo center with its own parking stands. In 2025, according to its own figures, the airport handled about 340,000 tons of air cargo – a large share of it flies in the belly of passenger aircraft, plus dedicated freighters from some airlines.

A third runway has been under discussion for years. It is legally approved, but a citizens’ referendum in the City of Munich halted the project for now in 2012; it has been on ice since. Instead of the runway, the airport grew at the terminals: the Terminal 2 satellite arrived in 2016, and the Terminal 1 pier for non-Schengen flights in April 2026. The next step on the agenda is the further expansion of Terminal 2.

Munich compared

In the German-speaking region, Munich is the second big hub after Frankfurt Airport. Frankfurt has more runways, more cargo and more foreign long-haul – Munich, in return, is more compact and easier to get to grips with thanks to the visitors’ park. Zurich Airport is the hub of Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss and is worth adding if you want to compare the group fleets.

If you want to see some aviation history after spotting, it is not far: the Flugwerft Schleißheim lies in Oberschleißheim north of Munich and, as a branch of the Deutsches Museum, shows historic aircraft on a historic airfield site. For your first trip, the gear checklist and the article Plane spotting for beginners will also help.

Conclusion

Munich Airport is what Frankfurt is not for many beginners: clearly laid out, easy to reach and with a fixed, legal vantage point in the middle of the airport grounds. Two long parallel runways, a Lufthansa hub with the A380 and A350 and a range of Star Alliance partners make sure it is rarely boring.

The difference between a good day and a very good day comes down to the same things as everywhere: runway direction in use, light and a look at the arrivals board. If you sort that out beforehand, you will be standing in the right place at the right time in the Erdinger Moos.